Nana Visitor's first episode of Dark Angel, on which she guest-stars as Madame X, will air on FOX tonight at 9:00pm. For the show's producers, the character has already been so successful that Madame X will be returning for Dark Angel's second season, if the series is renewed.

Tonight's episode is called 'Pollo Loco,' and will introduce viewers to the blonde, smartly-dressed Madame X. She's one of the higher-ups in the military organisation Manticore, boss to series regular Lydecker (played by John Savage), and according to Visitor, rather similar to DS9's Intendant. "She was evil with a dollop of self-deprecating humor. It works well for a Madame X character," the Kira Nerys actress told Zap2It. "The people who watch Star Trek will enjoy this character, even though she's really the next step from the Intendant. It's very cool for that reason."

Dark Angel co-executive producer Rene Echevarria, who worked on DS9 as supervising producer, confirmed that Visitor got the role because of her work on that series. "As soon as the character started coming together, I said, 'It's Nana Visitor,'" he recalled. "A lot of different people had to sign off on her - [series creator] Jim Cameron, Chick [executive producer Charles Eglee], the studio, the network, a lot of people. It's an important character, a recurring character. The studio and the network knew her work. I don't know if Jim did. There was some talk about stunt casting, and the usual studio rigmarole about forming lists of possible people. I just watched them all drop by the wayside as they all saw Nana's tape."

Visitor said she was happy to appear in a science-fiction series again. "For me, it's the ideal job. It's cultish, so you have these people who are really well-informed, who are some of the smartest viewers out there. They're very selective, and they know what they like, and they have strong opinions about it."

"Yet, it's not out of control," she continued. "They don't get weird. It's a really interesting core group of people who watch these series, and I find that I like them a lot."

Trek fans will be able to see a lot of Madame X, as she is scheduled to appear in all of the remaining episodes this season. In addition, if the series is renewed, she will be returning for even more episodes.

To read Visitor's description of the character, as well as her reaction to having to temporarily relocate to Vancouver to film the show's second season, please read the the full interview in Zap2It's science-fiction section. Thanks go out to TrekWeb for the link!

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